Pärnu, Estonia

In the final post of my series on Estonia, I present the seaside city of Pärnu. Situated in the southwest of the country, Pärnu is known for its beaches and is a popular summer destination. It is also almost as large as Berlin. Just like in Tartu, I had an old friend living in the city and so dropped by to visit.

I do, however, remember being told about how there were no ice cream sellers to be found because it wasn’t the first of June yet, and this was the point in time after which people would start selling ice cream. (With the exception of factory-made ice cream of course, which was available when I was there.)

It was 25 degrees Celsius when I visited Pärnu and there would’ve been plenty of money to be made from ice cream had someone capitalised on this opportunity. Alas, this wasn’t the case.

That is one gorgeous balcony

A noteworthy building I saw was the Red Tower (Estonian: Pärnu ordulinnus). It was constructed in the 15th century as a prison, but has served several purposes since then. The tower is the oldest building in Pärnu and its name came about from the brick used to line its interior and exterior.

There was a particular part of town which had some colourful pieces of street art.

The day was spent talking, walking about and having a duck breast salad for lunch before I got on the bus again in the afternoon and headed back to Tallinn. Looking back, I’m grateful I got the chance to see a few different parts of Estonia and meet people whom I’ve known for some time now.

And with that, I am done with my series on Estonia. This has been quite an achievement because it’s the first time I’ve written about an entire trip on this blog. Small though it may be, Estonia is a country well worth visiting. (One ought to remember that ‘small’ only refers to its population – in terms of area it’s about the same size as the Netherlands!)

In the next post I revisit one of the cities I’ve been to recently. Come back soon to find out what that city is. 😉